Silver Spirits

"Beautiful curls you have there, my little rose. They shine gold, like the sun."

"Thank you, Captain."

"And a beautiful woman you've become, Scarlett. You're certainly not the little girl with an old slingshot I used to know. No, just sixteen years old and more woman than anyone could ever hope to be."

Captain Phineas Shirley didn't look much like much more than any average, older man. He walked with heavy footsteps as he circled around the teenage girl sitting in his chair, who didn't dare look up at him. She kept her eyes glued to her feet, gasping softly when Phineas suddenly appeared in her face, leaning away from him so much that the chair tipped back. He chuckled, straightening out and wandering towards the window to look out at the rolling waves outside. Scarlett stiffened in her seat, hand slowly moving to the table near her and curling around the hilt of a knife sitting there. She waited until Phineas started to turn towards her before shooting up from her seat and throwing the knife, watching the blade embed itself in the wood dangerously close to his face when he stepped aside. He slowly turned to face her with a low chuckle, watching Scarlett reach for a firearm at her hip, but finding it missing. He reached into his coat and held the pistol up, waving it in front of her face.

"Oh, Scarlett. You can't use your tricks on the one who taught them to you. Don't you know?"

"Of course I do," she said with a mischievous grin, "But we both know I'm too stubborn to stop trying. We also know that you're too stubborn to turn down a challenge."

"No cheating this time?"

"I wouldn't dream of it."

The old man smirked, setting aside his firearm as Scarlett did the same, both drawing blades. No aether allowed, as had always been the rule between the two of them. Nothing but fists and steel.

"Alright then, Scarlett. Same stakes as before. If you win, my ship is all yours. But if you lose..."

"I know, I know. The usual deal. Get on with it, you old-"

She gasped when Phineas suddenly lunged forward and put a hand around her throat, pinning her to the wall behind her and disarming her with just a swift flick of his wrist. Once again, Scarlett had lost the duel before it had even begun. Phineas sighed and let her go, watching her shamefully start to leave.

"You're too confident in yourself, Scarlett," he said, watching her out of the corner of his eye. "While that means others will think you're much stronger than you are, it also means that someday, you'll be in a situation where you can't protect yourself the way everyone thought you could. Any other man would have slit you throat, rather than let you go so you can try again sometime. All bark, no bite."

"We'll see about that."



Scarlett woke up with a start, hand flying up to her throat like she could still feel the fingers curled around it. She sat up slowly and hugged her knees to her chest, closing her eyes and taking a few deep breathes. She hated dreaming. Most of the time, her dreams were dark and bitter, taking her back to the times she refused to acknowledge while she was awake. More often than not, it would leave her in a slight daze for the rest of the morning.

She stood up and wandered to a mirror, gazing at her reflection as she slowly pinned her curls back in place on top of her head. She reached to the table for another pin, but her hand brushed against something furry instead. She felt her blood turn to ice as she looked over and saw a glimpse of a rat scurrying away, disappearing through the crack beneath the door. The blood-curdling shriek that came out of her next was enough to turn the rest of the crew's blood to ice.

She ran out of the room looking for Nosebleed, but instead saw Ben kneeling down and picking up the rat, along with the rest of his men. She stormed over to him and pulled back to give him the hardest slap across the face she could possibly do. Her strength seemed to surprise everyone, including Ben.

"What are you doing up on my deck?" she demanded.

"They were brought up here to work, like you wanted," Percy answered for them, before anyone else got slapped.

"Drown that rat," Scarlett ordered, glaring at Ben as he shielded the rodent in his pocket.

"Drown her?" he said in fake shock, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, I'd never do that. You know, Scarlett is just misunderstood, I think. Everyone thinks she's terrible, and she likely thinks that too thanks to those people, but the reality is that she just looks frightening. Even if she tried to hurt someone, she really probably can't."

"She can hurt whoever she wants to hurt, whenever she wants to," Scarlett growled.

"Physically, she's not even that big."

"Size doesn't matter, as I'm sure Tully over there has argued many times in his life. He can explain it to you."

"Are we still talking about the rat?" Simon interrupted, squirming a bit at Scarlett's remark, which was going to give him a certain label that would surely haunt him the rest of the time he was aboard the Silver Spirit.

"I've been talking about the rat the entire time," Ben said, though it didn't reassure anyone of anything.

"Back to whatever you lot were doing," she said through clenched teeth. "If that rat gets in my way again, I'll shoot it. If that means hitting you in the process, so be it. Not all shots have to be fatal, after all."

With that, she dismissed them, watching as they dispersed to different jobs. Ben and Emily were the only ones to remain on the upper deck, though the girl wasn't working with her brother. Rather, she was watching over Percy's shoulder as he carved into a piece of driftwood, asking him loads of questions that he was ignoring, for the most part. While she wasn't working, she was the only one Scarlett let be. She wasn't hurting anyone after all, and it seemed like she had no desire to provoke anyone, even if she did think her brother was funny when he did.

Ben, on the other hand, was quickly becoming the bane of Scarlett's existence. Every bit of her wanted to strangle him, but she couldn't. No, not when she was just so close. She looked over her shoulder and watched for a few moments as Ben rolled up his sleeves to work on tightening the ropes and fixing the rigging of the sales. She caught him looking at her every now and then as well, though he never lingered too long.

Scarlett ignored it, climbing up the knotted rope leading up to the crow's nest, just enough to get a good view of the horizon. She stared out at the sea, though a voice was still ringing in her ear from that morning.

You're too confident in yourself, Scarlett.

The words tugged at her heart. What if he was right? What if this was the time he was talking about? The time where Scarlett's overconfidence would lead to her demise? She felt a bit weak at the knees thinking about it, shifting to hold onto the rope with both hands now. She pushed the thought away, like she always did. She was so close to her happy ending. Too close to quit now. Then why did she feel so lightheaded? So lightheaded, that she accidentally lost her footing and slipped, gasping softly. But instead of hitting the deck with a thud, she fell right into someone's arms.

She opened her eyes to see Ben looking back at her, seemingly concerned. How long had he been ready to catch her? She couldn't tell if it was concern or curiosity in his eyes, but she didn't let herself lock eyes with him for too long. It's a dangerous thing, getting lost in someone's eyes. One may never find their way out. Scarlett squirmed out of his arms, but the moment he put her down, she felt sick again and felt her knees buckle. He caught her once more around the waist and helped her on her feet again. He turned his attention to see if Percy had noticed, but he was so absorbed in whatever he was explaining to Emily that he didn't even see Scarlett fall.

"What's on your mind, Captain?" Ben asked quietly. "I know it's not the rats."

"Don't act like you care," she grumbled.

"All bark, no bite."

This hit Scarlett where it hurt the most, though she was positive that Ben didn't know that when he said it. He seemed to notice a slight change in her demeanor, but neither of them were about to apologize to the other. There were no apologies in war.

"I'm fine," Scarlett insisted, glaring at him. "Remove your arm from my waist before I cut it off."

He obliged, tempted to tip her over so she'd fall if she swayed again. She didn't, straightening herself out and walking right over to Percy and Emily, who's smiles fell right off when she approached as if she'd caught them doing something unforgivable. She looked Emily up and down, trying to make sense of the girl's eagerness to learn everything.

"How old are you?" she asked.

"Seventeen," Emily told her.

"You know, I like you," Scarlett told her, glancing at Ben as he watched from a distance. "You talk too much, but unlike your brother, the things you say mean something. Keep her up here from now on, Percy. Our cabin boy isn't a boy anymore, and that role needs to be filled."

"Yes, ma'am," Percy said.

"See? I can be kind too, can't I?" she said, turning back to Emily. "You'll see a new inch of the ship every day. Much nicer up here than that grimy old cell, isn't it?"

"Do you really mean it?" Emily asked, pleasantly surprised.

"Of course," Scarlett smiled. "Percy, get her something clean to wear. I'm sure I have some old things that may fit her."

The girl beamed at this, following Percy and stopping by Ben on the way. "Did you hear that? They're going to let me out of the brig!"

"That's wonderful, Em," Ben said, giving her a smile as she bounded after Percy.

His smile faded once she was gone, with the sudden realization that Scarlett's kindness had nothing to do with Emily at all. The girl would no longer be in the brig, and likely kept so busy around the ship that there was no way Ben would be able to keep her close by his side anymore. And what could he do about it? Beg her to decline the offer and sit in the damp cell all day? He shook his head, almost in disbelief at how Scarlett was able to twist and turn things against him so effortlessly, though she knew better than to believe she had won. She nodded to him with a sly smile as she started towards where Emily and Percy were.

"Your move, Griffith."